A Late Night Chat
by AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: Levi is livid when Farlan comes home after spending time in a brothel.


It's nearly three am when Farlan comes back to their hideout. _Three am._ It's been six _fucking_ hours since Levi has last spoken to or seen the ex-gang leader and the idea of being away from a resentful subordinate that long makes Levi's nerves stand on end. Farlan strides in like he owns the place still, but his posture is relaxed, calm. Clearly, there's something in his system making him like that. Levi immediately assumes alcohol, but Farlan doesn't seem intoxicated or even buzzed. Levi jumps to the next best option: drugs.

"Where the hell have you been?" he demands, giving the tall man a dark look. Farlan rolls his eyes and folds his arms in front of his chest. His carefree attitude is gone in an instant.

"What's it to you?" he retorts, the familiar challenging look sparking in his eyes.

"If you're carrying out heists without my permission -" Levi begins but Farlan cuts him off.

"I wasn't out working, I was at a brothel. Calm down," he says. But with this knowledge how can Levi relax? His blood boils almost immediately, the heat setting rage into a fire. He remembers having to hide out with rags stuffed in his ears as his mother dealt with clients. He remembers the bruises and lacerations on her skin after being with a few. The sick smell of sweat, semen, and natural lubricants was a stench he'd never forget and one that would always repulse him. Levi could still see his mother, sick from some pervert and barely able to sit up because of how weak the sickness had made her. Even to her final moments she tried her best to care for him. She only had one or two bites of food, the rest going to him. Her touch had gone from warm and comforting to cold and bony, as if death was petting his hair instead of her. He still remembered waking up, preparing a small breakfast for he and his mother to share, and spending hours trying to wake her up. But she never would. Levi was sure the sickness had taken her before hunger. She'd been sick longer than she had been hungry. It was disgusting perverts that exploited sex workers for some cheap thrill that killed her. It was dirty men that spread their filth everywhere that killed her. It was men like Farlan that killed his mother.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Levi hisses, standing up and approaching Farlan like a storm coming towards a shore. "Deal with your hand until you get a girlfriend, or something."

"Yeah, well that doesn't cut it sometimes," Farlan says dismissively. "And like you have a say in how I live my life. If I want to buy a prostitute I'll do it. Fuck off."

"You can't just talk about them like you're buying clothes or food," Levi seethes. "They are people and they deserve some fucking respect."

"I never said that I think they're a commodity," Farlan defends himself heatedly. "I only said you can't tell me who I can or can't have sex with."

"The sentiment was there."

"No, it wasn't. Prostitutes are people and I respect them as that, but I only meant that I'm going to employ one if I want a quick fuck and you have no say if I do that or not. It's my life, not yours. You don't get a say."

"What, so you don't respect them otherwise?"

"Of course I respect them otherwise! I just meant that . . . why are you so hot and bothered by this? What's it to you?" Farlan asks, casting an inquiring eye on Levi, who simply kept glaring at his predecessor.

"Why should I give you an explanation?" Levi asks coolly, walking over to a window. He shuts it but not before looking around the block. He was still unfamiliar with the area and it was better to be safe rather than sorry. Who knows if Farlan still have devotees out to get him. "I don't owe you anything."

"Who is it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Who's the prostitute in your family? Your daughter? Your sister? Your mother? Who?" Farlan demands quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Levi lies lightly, going back to his desk and straightening it up

"Cut the bullshit Levi, you know what I'm talking about," Farlan says.

"It's not bullshit. I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"Come on, who is it? It's not like I'm gonna go search her out. That's a line I wouldn't cross."

 _And somehow I don't trust you,_ Levi silently replies. But there wasn't anything Farlan could do to hurt him or his mother. And from the taller man's body language and voice, it was clear that he wasn't going to let this go.

"My mother. Now will you shut the hell up?" Farlan's face fell from determined to somber as if realizing the weight of his questions. Silence fell between the two men.

"I'm sorry about whatever happened to your mother." Farlan's voice was quiet, polite, even. "I could have him killed, you know. The guy who did her in." _If only that was possible._

"He's long dead," Levi replies, as there's nothing else he can really say.

"Good." Farlan walks down the hall towards his bedroom and the door shuts with an air of finality. Levi is left to his own devices, staring at empty space in the hallway and wondering why Farlan would ever offer to have someone killed on his, and his mother's, behalf. _He's just trying to get on my good side,_ he concludes cynically. He's trying to get back some of the power he used to have.

And yet Levi can't shake off the feeling of touching sincerity and sympathy from Farlan.


End file.
